MOB and capsize drills in a cruising dinghy

 It is with interest that I have been reading on two different forums, peoples views on MOB procedures in a dinghy and whether to wear a buoyancy aid or a life jacket.

The issues associated with whether to wear a buoyancy aid or a life jacket, along with what to carry on my person, have exercised my thinking over the years and I still find myself slightly ambivalent and unsure as to which is best. I have been leaning towards wearing the lifejacket when I'm voyaging along the coast, with a tether line to keep me onboard; and then wearing the buoyancy aid within the sound and up the Tamar but without tether. I have no rationale to justify why - sorry! 

Previous posts on my musings can be found at 

https://arwensmeanderings.blogspot.com/2020/03/is-it-time-to-get-new-plb.html

https://arwensmeanderings.blogspot.com/2019/04/dinghy-cruising-and-personal-safety.html

But now comes more serious consideration of the issues of MOB and capsizing Arwen. 

I confess, I have only ever done one capsize test on Arwen, long ago in the first couple of years of sailing her. I emptied her almost completely and then sailed her across to a local beach with negligible current and just normal incoming/outgoing tidal activity. She floated, slightly high but I could access the centreboard, right her and get back in, with difficulty. I did it wearing a wet suit and a buoyancy aid. Conditions were very calm and 'controlled'. Totally unrealistic frankly!

I think at the time I was more concerned about whether all hatches were watertight or not and what she was like full of water when upright. 

From this experience, I then started to think about how to get back into her more easily and with speed. 

But these recent forum discussions have bought me to my senses. I need to capsize her when she is laden with dinghy cruising equipment to see how she behaves then and to assess what my capabilities are when wearing dinghy cruising clothing. 

I've been foolish, I should have done this regularly every couple of years at least. 

I've spent sometime perfecting re-boarding loops, prompted by the clever thinking of Joel Bergen, another navigator owner on the west coast of the USA. These side loops have been tested and adjusted regularly as I go for a swim around Arwen pretty much annually,  when she is anchored over at Cawsand Bay. I have also added a 4m long 14mm diameter knotted braided rope either side, to help right her. There is also the transom step which I can use in conjunction with the boomkin. Getting back into her, from the water, has never been a problem, although again, a note of caution is needed. It is dead easy to do in calm, sunny conditions, in the shelter of Cawsand Bay, at anchor, close to a treelined shoreline! 

You can access posts about the boarding loops here 

https://arwensmeanderings.blogspot.com/2020/08/getting-back-into-your-boat-after.html

The Open boat yahoo group forum started one thread on MOB procedures and recovery and it set me thinking. I last dealt with MOB drills when I completed a refresher RYA level 2 dinghy sailing course and an RYA L2 powerboat course some six years ago. On both occasions, instructors focused on what to do, how to return to the casualty in the water and how to position the boat for retrieval. I don’t remember them teaching me how to recover an unconscious adult in full sailing clothing from the water, although I have vague memories about dipping the boat side and ‘rolling’ them in.  Apparently, it is taught on the advanced course called ‘Seamanship skills’ and I wonder whether I should find such a course and enrol. I do remember sailing a laser in force 4/5 conditions once in Greece – exhilarating stuff and great fun but every time I capsized, the boat drifted away far faster than I could swim and the safety boats were kept very busy that day. I need to assume that Arwen would do the same out at sea. Perhaps a refresher course is due again and then some practise with my own boat. 

 

Forum members on the yahoo group raised some pertinent questions and the subsequent discussion was thoughtful and informed.

Questions: 

·        How do you get back to a MOB victim fast and safely?

·        How do you get this waterlogged adult (could be child) out of the water back into a dinghy?

·        How do you avoid capsizing the boat whilst doing so?

·        If you couldn’t get them back over the side or transom, would you deliberately have to capsize the boat and try and scoop them into it as you re-righted it?

·        Or, is it an immediate May-day situation and you just assume you will need urgent outside help as a matter of course in this eventuality?

·        What do you do about the issue of you being the MOB and leaving an inexperienced crew left in the boat to get back to you? 

Subsequent discussion: 

·        If in easy reach of land, consider towing a casualty if they were wearing a life jacket? (Could it be done if they were in a buoyancy aid? And what is ‘in easy reach of land – what distance and conditions is that?)

·        Long harnesses, clipped into the boat, with self-inflating life jackets should be considered, especially if you are a solo sailor (i.e. preventing you from becoming the accidental MOB (but what about possible entanglement, being towed downwind, trying to go back over side deck or coaming with large inflated pillow in front of you?)

·        A solo sailor should carry clipped to them a waterproof VHF, a mobile phone (in waterproof pouch)and a PLB – so you could immediately instigate rescue help (how long would such electronics survive immersion?)

·        A permanently mounted small rigid ladder to aid re-boarding (on a personal note, not sure where that would go on Arwen given the transom has a boomkin, rudder and outboard already off it; many semi flexible ladders end up disappearing under the hull where water pressure forces them against the hull making it difficult to get feet on the treads)

·        Coming alongside the MOB and immediately tethering them to the windward side of the boat and then doing a May-Day call. In F4+ conditions, heaving to as close as possible and throwing a floating cushion/fender to help the MOB keep afloat, before doing May-Day call and then trying to stay as close to them as possible until rescue arrives?

·         Towing a small inflatable dinghy behind bigger dinghies – these are easier to clamber up into and can be hauled back alongside the original dinghy. It is easier to get from inflatable into boat than from waterline?

Meanwhile, over on the members forum for the Dinghy Cruising Association, a similar discussion was coincidently taking place about how to get back to a MOB, how to get them alongside and how to retrieve them back into the boat.

Members came up with various thoughts:

·        Towing a long floating rope with a fender attached at the end – inexperienced crew overboard could grab hold of the rope as you passed the boat by them

·        MOB drill should be practised regularly, like picking up a mooring under sail, remembering that you need to approach upwind, with the wind around 50 – 70 degrees off the bow, just ahead of the beam, and with sufficient space to slow down, speed up etc and aiming to bring the MOB to the leeward side

·        Immediately there is a MOB, is a quick stop is needed – letting go of sheets and pushing tiller to leeward and bringing the bow into the wind? Is this better than the taught RYA method of a close hauled approach?

·        Alternatively, a heave to immediately to windward of the casualty will allow the boat to drift down onto their position

·        Is there merit in bringing the MOB to the windward side of the boat for easier retrieval?

·        Would approaching from upwind require a gybe and would this be practical in lively conditions – would it be better to go off on a broad reach and then do a ‘chicken gybe’ re-approaching MOB on a beam reach?

·        Should solo sailors use a tether and prevent themselves from being a MOB? If so, what length tether? Should it be long enough to avoid you becoming entangled? Will you being dragged through the water slow down the boat’s drift rate? Could excess tether be stuffed in a pocket on your Buoyancy aid? There would be a need to carry a knife on one’s person as well – just in case the tether needs to be cut! OR, should it be less than 2m long, to keep you on the boat even during a capsize – will being towed by a longer tether cause rapid drowning?

·        Foam buoyancy aids are better than the ‘inflating’ life jacket types and that seems, according to some DCA members to be borne out by RNLI research. In addition, it seems it is easier to get back into a dinghy after righting it wearing one of these. On the other hand, if you are knocked unconscious by the boom, and then fall out of the boat, the inflating life jacket will roll you onto your back, face out of water ad support your head out of the sea. But then, when the weather turns and you want to put a jacket on – you have to take it off, or put it on over the life jacket – which raises the question of whether it would then inflate correctly when needed, if you were wearing a coat over the top of it!

·        Sea temperatures were discussed. In the cold waters of the seas around the UK, you have a maximum of an hour in the water before you die. So, a buoyancy aid, which is easier to swim in, seems the sensible solution, as you can get back to your dinghy more quickly and at least try and right it unhindered. But then , if you need to swim back to the boat and are close to it, you could deflate the ‘inflated life jacket’.

·        Someone did suggest as an alternative, a fisherman’s Fladens’ floatation suit for buoyancy. 

So where does this all leave me?

Firstly, I need to clarify my thinking about buoyancy aid or life jacket and then stick to one.  Secondly, I need to capsize Arwen fully laden in safe waters and practice re-boarding; I can also assess how she behaves and check the water-tightness of the lockers. Thirdly, as part of this practice, I should experiment with different length tethers attached to my jack stays and see what the outcomes are - which is best and safest length etc. Fourthly, I definitely need to get out and do some MOB drills on a vacant mooring buoy in strong tidal flow, variable wind speeds and various states of tide. I should try several different approach vectors alongside some crash stops, heave too's etc, to gain experience of them all. Fifthly, and most problematic, I need to gain some experience of trying to lift some very, very heavy weights over the side of the boat - the MOB recovery bit. At this point, I really have no idea how to go about this. 

Ho hum! Some thinking to do. I am aiming to be out on the water in the last weeks of August for some overnight camping trips. I would like to try and get my thinking and strategies straight by then.